Flu outbreak at shelter leaves one man dead
Nine others from Seaton House, city’s largest shelter, hospitalized
One man is dead and nine others have been hospitalized amid an ongoing influenza outbreak in the city’s largest homeless shelter.
Toronto Public Health (TPH) has been investigating the outbreak at Seaton House, near Jarvis and Gerrard Sts., since Sunday and was notified of a death on Wednesday, said spokesperson Allison Chris.
“We’ve met with Seaton House and outlined public health control measures. We are seeing less people become ill,” Chris told the Star on Wednesday night.
Some City of Toronto staff members at Seaton House are also experiencing respiratory symptoms but their cases have not been confirmed as influenza, Chris said.
“It’s happening on the fourth floor of Seaton House,” local Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam said.
“The fourth floor of Seaton House is primarily reserved for men who are ages 55 and older. They are typically very vulnerable, especially because they’re aged and many of them have serious mental health concerns and many of them require nursing support. They can easily be admitted into a long-term care facility, except they are homeless.”
Wong-Tam added that the outbreak was preventable if city staff had better support.
Seaton House is the largest facility in the city that has access to service from medical practitioners that come in the facility and provide a source of support, she said.
“But even then, the overcrowded conditions have led to this second outbreak.”
In November of 2017, Toronto Public Health said 67 people were assessed at Seaton House following a strep outbreak that lasted19 months.
Staff at Seaton House do the best they can, but the crowded conditions of the city’s largest shelter create a “perfect storm” when it comes to disease transmission, especially when people are dealing with complex and chronic health issues, said Jo Connelly, executive director of the Inner City Family Health Team.
The team provides a range of health services to the men of Seaton House, as well as other marginalized people in and around the Moss Park area.
“It’s a real example of how vulnerable people are in a large, crowded shelter,” said Connelly.
“It’s the kind of outbreak we’ve been warning about when we have shelters that are beyond 90 per cent capacity,” said Cathy Crowe, a street nurse and advocate for services for homeless people. “City hall is talking about opening 1,000 shelters beds in a year but this outbreak is why it’s an emergency now. This is the worst case scenario. It’s really alarming.”